Catharsis
by ladylemonade4ever
Summary: The Christmas season is full of miracles, and Artie's new ReWalks allow him to do the impossible. Tina wants to feel happy for him, but can't quite manage it. Full of angst, but with a hopeful ending.


_A/N: It's been a while since I've done any fanfiction, and I've been itching to write some Glee. I've been toying with this idea for a while, for as cute as Brittany and Artie are, I'd like the writers to give Tina and Artie some closure. They deserve at least that much in my opinion. _

Catharsis

Tina flounced into the choir room, the excited chatter of her glee mates filling her ears, only to stop short in the doorway. Had she just entered a daydream? It would make sense, as it wouldn't be the first time in the years that she had known him that he would feature in her fantasies. And he had convinced her that he could walk _only_ in her fantasies.

Cautiously, gently, she smiled at him, waiting for the image of his ecstatic face as he took shaky step after shaky step to evaporate before her wistful eyes. A few seconds passed. He was still standing.

"Artie," Tina breathed, and her face lit up in awe as she drank in the sight of him walking, walking! She stood there rooted to the spot while everyone pushed past her to crowd around Artie, incredulous and laughing as they shared in his joy. Brittany was beatific in the advent of her Christmas miracle, and everyone's heart swelled at the thought of her innocent little wish bringing Artie this utter bliss. It was enough to make anyone believe in Santa Clause, Coach Sylvester included.

Tina hung back in the midst of it all, trembling in a happy sort of shock, Artie could walk. Artie could walk! A delighted giggle bubbled up in her, ready to burst into the loudest sound ever to escape from her lips. And yet even buoyed by her happiness, as she watched Artie and Brittany share a kiss, she felt something inside her fall away and sink, like a bar of soap slipping from her grasp and floating down to the bottom of the bath. The giggle died just as quickly as it lived, and the wave of euphoria that had swept over Tina receded quicker than a wave on Lake Erie's beach. Trying to get a grip of herself, she dazedly left the celebration in the choir room, unnoticed by everyone including her boyfriend, Mike.

She made her way down the empty hallway, a teardrop falling down her cheek, then another, followed by another one. She painfully careened into a row of lockers as her vision blurred so badly from tears that she could barely see, and she had to clutch at the wall in an effort to keep from zigzagging dangerously. Too many thoughts assaulted her fragile state of composure, evidenced by the presence of normally out of place tears.

She had never given up on the idea that someday Artie would be able to walk, not even after her disastrous attempts to convince him that he could back when they were dating. All those hours, countless hours she had spent, researching ways for paraplegics to regain mobility, visiting hospitals and trying to interview doctors, and for what? Brittany asked _Santa_, and Artie could walk.

Dim-witted Brittany, who couldn't even know what it meant for him to be given this miracle; who had enraged Tina for putting him in that position in the first place! She had smoldered for the last couple days as she watched Artie set aside his own hurt feelings to protect her belief in Santa. She hollowly wondered if Artie would have done the same for her, had she done what Brittany did. She let out a watery snort as she imagined Artie yelling at her for going up to the mall Santa and ignorantly asking for him to be able to walk.

Then she felt bad. So Brittany was stupid. At least her heart was in the right place.

Tina's nails dug into her palms as punishment for her bitter feelings. Why was she even crying? She was the one who had dumped him in the first place, and for another guy too! Even as she asked herself that question she flinched from the horrible way that sounded in her head. Jesus, she was such a bitch.

She finally made her way to the double doors which led to the exit ramp near the parking lot, and she pushed them open, the sharp December wind buffeting her inky black and indigo locks about her sticky face. She collapsed on the ramp, a shaking hand pressed to her mouth as she tried to muffle the wails threatening to rip out of her chest.

After a couple of minutes spent futilely trying to quiet down her sobs, Tina finally gave in and cried with all of the energy she could muster. She curled up on the gritty carpet covered concrete and actually howled like the icy wind around her, tortured by old images of her pushing Artie in his chair, watching him play guitar, singing with him, laughing with him, kissing him. All of her previous thoughts about Brittany and her regrets were drowned out by _Artie_, _Artie_, _Artie_.

Her breath caught in her throat as she began to hyperventilate with the violence of her anguish.

She felt a rush of warm-if-stale air whoosh over her rocking form accompanied by the sound of the doors opening and the screeching of wheels. She looked up numbly and froze.

"Tina?" Artie asked, taken aback. Tina scrambled up from her position on the ramp and backed up, furiously blushing under the curious stares of Artie and Brittany, who was carrying his special crutches.

"I- I-" Tina stammered, hiding her tear-stained face behind a curtain of hair as she felt her mouth go dry from Artie's coolly arched eyebrow. Such, such disdain… her heart clenched painfully for a moment and her hand flew to her chest as she visibly grimaced, missing the look of concern that flashed across his face.

"Did you fall down the ramp? Because that happens to me every Tuesday," Brittany asked not unkindly. Artie's impatient expression softened a bit as Tina smoothed the ruffles of her skirt, looking anywhere but him.

"Yeah, that's it," Tina mumbled awkwardly, her eyes darting from side to side in search of an escape route. What she'd give to be invisible, she thought desperately, as the moment stretched uncomfortably between them. She realized how she must look, with a layer of melting snowflakes in her hair, the obvious shivering despite the warmth of her oh-so-cheery Christmas sweater. They must know that clearly she didn't just fall down the ramp, that she had been out there for quite some time; scratch that, Artie would know. She shifted from foot to foot, about to make an excuse to leave the presence of the happy couple, when Brittany spoke.

"Oh! Tina I forgot, Mike was looking for you!" Brittany's sudden remembrance gave Tina the timely escape route she was hoping for and muttering a quick thanks she pushed past a startled Artie, who finally had clear glimpse of Tina's glistening cheeks. Ignoring the distant shout of "Hey!" Tina mechanically made her way to the girl's bathroom in an effort to unthaw from the cold and settle her composure before she returned to the choir room to hit up Mike for a ride home so she could get ready for their date later.

Tina whipped her head back as the sound of wheels skidding across the freshly waxed McKinley floors got louder behind her. Her eyes widened as she saw Artie puffing from the exertion of chasing her down in his wheelchair, and she started to sprint towards the bathroom. With a small cry of triumph she swung the door open and promptly swung it shut before Artie crashed into her, and with jittery hands she locked it before sagging against the door, weary.

"Tina!" Artie's frustrated shout made her jump as he rattled the door handle in a futile effort, "Tina open up!"

"I- I- Just please leave me alone!" Tina cried, her eyes screwed shut as she imagined what Artie must look like on the other side of the door. Panic brought fresh tears to her eyes again as wild heartbeats hammered in her chest. What if he brought the other glee clubbers running with his shouting? Mike? Mr. Schue? She couldn't open the door though, couldn't face him. A sarcastic thought that was detached from the situation remarked nastily from somewhere inside her, _when did I become more dramatic than Rachel Berry?_

"Not until you tell me what's wrong!" Artie banged on the door to further emphasize his stubbornness. Tina shook her head, heedless to the fact he couldn't see her as she doubled over in breathy little sobs that were thankfully muffled through the heavy wooden door painted in chipping lead-based paint.

"Tina! Come on, I'll stay outside this door all day, I've got my brakes on so I'm not going anywhere…" the familiar wheedling tone gave Tina a sense of hardened calm, enough to gather her thoughts before she responded.

Artie had just raised his gloved fist to bang on the door again after a period of seemingly unending silence from the other side of the door when Tina's voice stopped him short.

"Artie. Stop," there was a short pause as Tina struggled to make her voice stronger, more even, "Just. Stop."

"Tina," Artie started again, "please just tell me what's wrong-"

The door banged open a little harder than Tina intended, making them both wince. Aside from some puffiness around her red-rimmed eyes, and the grim set of her mouth, her stoic Asian features made her impenetrable. If he didn't know her as well as he did, he'd have never been aware that she had just been crying. She closed her eyes, opened them. Artie opened his mouth to speak when a wave of her hand silenced him.

"Nothing's wrong Artie," Tina began, only for Artie to snort derisively.

"Because you normally cry out in the snow and lock yourself in bathrooms, Tee."

Tee. He called her _Tee_. A slight pink tint rose in her cheeks as she allowed herself to bask in the use of her nickname from when they first became friends. She mentally shook herself as she noticed Artie's skeptical stare. But she couldn't help but feel…lighter. If that was even possible. A slight, tremulous smile twitched in the corners of her mouth as she amended, "There's nothing wrong now." And as she said the words a part of her believed them.

Artie still cared. He was sitting there, in his chair outside the girl's bathroom when he could be with Brittany. That _had_ to mean he still cared, right? At least a little? And if he cared, then that meant that there was still a chance, a chance that they could be friends again. Friends! Aglow with this new realization, Tina felt a real smile grow on her face and as she skipped past an agog Artie, she let her fingers tangle themselves for a moment in his soft brown hair as she moved past, for a brief second they trailed down to the back of his neck, tickling him with their cool touch.

Artie's eyes were closed as he listened to the sound of her footsteps echoing down the hall, the ghost of her touch still playing with the ends of his hair. They opened again when he heard her airy voice call to him, "I'm so, _so _happy for you!"

"Why?" Artie asked, annoyed and puzzled as Tina's head craned over the side of the corner she had just turned around. She was grudgingly adorable at the angle her head was cocked with her long, long hair tumbling over her shoulder, blue ribbon-like strands winking in and out of the black silk. Her nose wrinkled in her surprise at his silly question, and she spoke with such warmth, such easy affection that Artie couldn't help but grin.

"Artie, you can walk!"

_Please Review!_


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